Posts in
August 2009

101 days to go until the biggest climate jamboree ever seen. The UN Copenhagen climate conference will be a defining moment in how humanity responds to the issue. World leaders can either finally grasp the nettle by agreeing drastic cuts in CO2 levels, and getting out their check book to pay for it.

So the trickle turns into a tide. They are all at it now. There is a sudden rush amongst oil and gas companies in the US to garner grasssroots support to attack the Climate bill. Just days after Greenpeace released an internal memo from the oil boys at the American Petroleum Institute, detailing plans to...Continue reading 'Valero’s Flawed “Voices for Energy”'.

It’s your mess – now you pay for it. That’s the message from African leaders to Western countries as they mull over a proposal to demand tens of billions of dollars in compensation – one figure muted is $67 billion a year – from developed countries for the effects of climate change. African Ministers have...Continue reading 'Africa to Demand Billions in Climate Compensation'.

So the great Iraqi oil sell-off continues. The embattled Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani will today unveil the next round of oil contracts at a conference in Istanbul. Al-Shahristani is under pressure to pull in investment after the Iraqi government’s first round only secured one deal for the vast Rumaila field: BP and China National...Continue reading 'Iraq Offers 2nd Round of Oil Bids'.

On Wednesday, the fourth Annual climate camp will happen at an undisclosed location in London, building on previous year’s success at Drax, Kingsnorth and Heathrow. With just months to go to the crucial Copenhagen Climate Summit in December, the intention is to force our politicians to act. But activists from around Britain will also be...Continue reading '“British companies are killing us”'.

I am used to writing about the problems of oil and the Niger Delta with its vortex of violence and vulnerability to climate change. But what about another equally important Delta of Africa: the Nile, arguably once the world’s most famous river. It too is beginning to suffer from the creeping consequences of our changing...Continue reading 'The Nile Delta: “We are going underwater”'.

Is the special relationship between the US and UK going to be stretched to the limit over Lockerbie? It is expected that this afternoon the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi will be freed from prison on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. Colonel Gaddafi’s private jet is waiting to take him home. Kenny Macaskill,...Continue reading 'Lockerbie: Freedom for Oil?'.

It’s turning into Astroturf August. Hot on the heels of the revelations about the fake oil industry PR campaign, comes the fake coal PR campaign. We knew that the fossil fuel industry would not give up without a fight, but we did not realise that had turned into such fossil fools, by have all their...Continue reading '“We are seeing fraud-mongering on clean energy”'.

As the oil runs out, the fight is on to find more of the black stuff. The problem for the international oil majors, such as BP and Shell, is that most of the remaining oil is controlled by national oil companies such as Saudi Aramco. That is why countries such as Iraq are so important...Continue reading 'Deeper into the Abyss'.

Here’s yet more evidence to nail into the coffin of the biofuel revolution. Biofuels have gone from the ultimate “win-win solution” to a “bogeyman” that threatens to starve the poor and keep the cars of the rich running, according to a new report by Christian Aid. Having reviewed all the evidence, the development charity has...Continue reading 'Policy Re-Think Needed for “Biofuels Bogeyman”'.